Cannabis: An Open Letter To David Cameron

I don’t know what David Cameron has been told about cannabis, or by whom, what he’s read about it or who it was written by, and I know nothing of his own experience with the plant. But what I do know is that he has a decision to make and he should read this before making it.

Economy wise for the UK, it’s mostly doom and gloom. We involve ourselves in unwinnable wars in distant lands, we’re forced to make constant benefit cuts and we put incompetent politicians in important positions. I don’t doubt that the people at the top are facing very difficult decisions on a daily basis, confronted with unsolvable problems and spiralling markets. But fuck all that. Here’s what I reckon.

I want to talk about a possible government monopolisation of the cannabis market and the legalisation of cannabis by and large. I believe this could save the economy, cut crime, create jobs and boost tourism, whilst hardly changing the fabric of society.

EXPENDITURE

I want you to visualise the total cost of the illegal cannabis market to the governmental budget, as one massive figure. Who knows what it would be, but picture a huge sum. Here’s a split:

i) Policing cannabis costs millions and millions every year, both on the streets and along our national borders, in offices and in jails. The total cost of the war on drugs is colossal.

ii) Millions of pounds exist in hard cash under beds and in shoeboxes, tied up in the cannabis market. Useless to the banks and the economy.

iii) The medical cost of cannabis is probably much lower, but considering the government make no cash from cannabis (unless they’ve already got some dodgy shit going on), they spend money every year trying to research the effects of the substance, never mind trying to rehabilitate those who have been psychologically damaged by it.

Now I want you to visualise that total cost, say yearly, for the last time. Think about the enormity of it – and now get rid of it. After the monopolisation and legalisation of cannabis, the government is free to spend their redundant expenditures wherever they see fit.